Warmth

Focusing on warmth rather than heating might alter the discussion of energy useage in buildings in a positive way in the future design of buildings.

Warmth seems to concentrate on the condition of the building environment, while heating seems to be a continuous chore. Warmth comes and goes; warmth can be guided to influence a building environment. Heating refers to an expenditure (usually of fuel) and once spent, seems not to be reclaimable.

I have already written about seeing geothermal energy, not as a resource in itself (like a traditional fuel), but as a solar or seasonal battery. What heat one would exhaust into the Earth in the Summer would be replenished by what one would take in the Winter. The change in the Earth's temperature would not change from year to year because human beings used that warmth.

Seeing seasonal warmth in that way is only a part of the change in mindset that would be useful to make in reimagining our buildings. Shepherding the forces around the whole built environment, moving warmth in the qualities that it will bring true comfort to us individually and as a public would lead to healthier solutions than the ones we are reaching now. Including ourselves in the discussion about the quality of the built environment would lead to a variety of conditions which might be able to be achieved more simply and directly to having a whole world which can sustain itself and which sustains us too.